How Many Languages Does Gary Oldman Speak?

Gary Oldman only speaks English.

He learned to speak fluent Russian for his role as the villain Dukhovich.

Despite no prior knowledge of Russian, Oldman was required to speak it expertly in the film.

“I probably could have learned ‘Hamlet’ measure for measure in the time that I’ve spent on my lines,” he said at the time.

Oldman was born in New Cross, London, on 21 March 1958, the son of Leonard Bertram Oldman (1921–1985), a former sailor who also worked as a welder, and Kathleen.

He said his father was an alcoholic who left the family when Oldman was seven years old.

His older sister, Maureen, is an actress better known as Laila Morse; she performed in Oldman’s directorial debut Nil by Mouth (1997), before taking on her most famous role of Mo Harris in the BBC soap opera EastEnders.

Oldman attended West Greenwich School in Deptford, leaving at the age of 16 to work in a sports shop.

He played piano as a child, but he gave up his musical aspirations to pursue an acting career after seeing Malcolm McDowell’s performance in the film The Raging Moon (1971).

In a 1995 interview with Charlie Rose, he said, “Something about Malcolm just arrested me, and I connected, and I said, ‘I wanna do that.’”